If NASA faked the moon landings, does the agency have any credibility at all? Was the Space Shuttle program also a hoax? Is the International Space Station another one? Do not dismiss these hypotheses offhand. Check out our wider NASA research and make up your own mind about it all.

A Mister Bas Lansdorp, that's all we need added to the comedy. No, this is not an April Fool's joke, despite the absurdity.

LONDON — A nonprofit organization that aims to land four astronauts on Mars in 2023 will kick off its two-year, televised search for Red Planet explorers by this summer.

The Netherlands-based Mars One will begin accepting application videos sometime between now and July, charging a fee to weed out folks who aren't serious about their candidacy. The group hopes to raise millions of dollars this way, with the proceeds paying for the ongoing selection process and technology studies.

"We expect a million applications with 1-minute videos, and hopefully some of those videos will go viral,” Mars One co-founder and chief executive officer Bas Lansdorp told SPACE.com on April 10. He was in London to speak to the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) that day.

... The maximum fee will apparently be $25.

Anyone who is at least 18 years old can apply by sending in a video explaining why he or she should be selected. But prospective colonists must be prepared to say goodbye to Earth forever; there are no plans at this point to bring Mars One astronauts home. ...

Mars One estimates that it needs $6 billion to send the first four astronauts to Mars. This money will cover developing the landing systems, habitats, Mars Transit Vehicle (MTV), rovers, solar arrays and other technologies associated with the colony, as well as pay for the crew's journey from Earth.

Mars One plans to raise this money largely through a global reality television series that will follow the colonization effort from astronaut selection to the first landing and the settlement’s expansion.

The audience will vote for who gets to go to Mars from a pool of candidates selected by Mars One’s experts. Lansdorp points to the 2012 London Olympics and the $4 billion it generated from television revenues over its three weeks as evidence that such a funding plan can work.

So appealing to the general idiocy of YouTube's discretion on which videos go "viral" is really their official selection process for Mars astronauts and colonists? Wow, thanks Netherlands for inventing "Reality TV" and then turning it into a most heinous form of making people completely stupid about how the world works.

...Astronauts would sleep in this area and use it as shelter from extreme solar radiation events. The water equates to a 9.84-inch (25 centimeters) column for radiation protection, which Lansdorp told the BIS is what NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) suggest for a return mission ...

Less than a foot of water is meant to shield people from raw radiation of the sun for several months? This is surely a Merry Melodies cartoon and not a scientific expedition. And the radiation will only be in "events" rather than a consistent permeation of space, as it's been explained to us before? What do they plan to do to prevent general exposure when there aren't radiation "events" going on -- follow the shadow of an asteroid?

... The colony’s habitats will be connected by fabric tunnels[?!?] and covered in 6 feet (1.8 m) of Martian soil, to provide radiation protection. Lansdorp told the BIS audience that with the colony’s expected outdoor activities, the colonists will get a radiation dose over 10 years equal to that of ESA’s maximum allowed for its astronauts, which he described as “very safe."

So, not to drive the point too hard about them not coming home, but using "play fort" materials and being buried six feet under the "soil" (how the dust and dirt we've seen can even be classified as viable soil is beyond this gardener's experience) has a certain ominous ring for the "lucky" contestants (6 feet under), that I'm sure will be exploited during the green screen lot chit-chat.

All in all, it is an article that must be read to be believed it is not entirely tongue-in-cheek. Here's a pre-emptive list of alleged collaborators for this hoax. I'd suggest a general boycott to amplify their obscurity, if this thing even exits the production lot:

As well as [Dennis Tito's] Paragon and SpaceX, Lansdorp is in discussions with Canada’s MDA Robotics for the rovers; Italy’s Thales Alenia Space for the MTV; ILC Dover, Astrobiotic and the U.K.’s Surrey Satellite Technology.

Lansdorp declined to answer questions about how much money Mars One has already raised, saying only that it's enough to start the selection process and to fund the Paragon contract. However, Mars One has named its first investors. Described as silver sponsors, they include Verkkokauppa.com, Finland’s second largest consumer electronics retailer, and Byte Internet, a Web hosting service.

The University of Twente (the Netherlands) is an entrepreneurial university with a focus on 'high tech human touch'. Our strength lies in our capacity to combine. We work with technologies of the future - eg. information technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology - in which behavioural and social science play a vital role. The most innovations take place at the interface between technology and society.

From the primary partner, University of Twente in the Netherlands, with such disturbing articles as "Reading Emotions as a Moral Warning System" which sounds vaguely like, "How to not be a fucking psychopath! 101"

Anyone ignoring or accepting emotions without considering them in some depth, will miss out on important insights. Says Sabine Roeser, endowed professor of political philosophy and ethics at the Philosophy department of the Behavioural Sciences faculty. ‘Through emotions you can feel what the possible consequences of risk are,’ according to Roeser.

Gee whiz, you mean people feel stuff and I can feel it too by putting myself in their place? Their tagline could be University for those who are so incredibly smart they're morally bankrupt. Alright, excuse me if my criticism of the educational institution seems tangential but I can't help but scratch my head about such classes at the same location where the study of a hoax will be taking place without informing the public it's a hoax!

hoi.polloi wrote: Alright, excuse me if my criticism of the educational institution seems tangential but I can't help but scratch my head about such classes at the same location where the study of a hoax will be taking place without informing the public it's a hoax!

Perhaps tangential, but interesting nonetheless. Will academics soon specialize in the psychology of life on the martian colony? Will they even know its all a farce?

Better yet, will the astro-naught applicants 'chosen' for this Mars One nonsense know that it is a hoax? Will they be willing actors in the scam, or human lab rats in a sick psychological experiment?

Will the sociopaths that put on this production have the astro-naughts living out the rest of their lives buried in the desert under six feet of 'Martian' soil (to protect them from radiation, of course)?They love fucking with our heads- can you imagine how they would delight in running this scam with astro-naughts who believe they are actually on Mars?

Most of these things seem to be jokes coming out of Hollywood culture. I don't think they'd try to pull a real life Truman Show. Their greater pride is that all us free-range sheeple are trapping ourselves by voluntarily submitting our senses to their digital feed. Even in things like Big Brother you hear all the time about how the contestants are living in a constant suspension of disbelief; how they're told to ham it up, act out ridiculous scenarios or enhance their feelings comically.

This might just be a distraction from the fact that the thing isn't real in the slightest - it's written and directed just like everything else, perhaps with only a bit more 'improv' allowed.

And you're right about the bizarre and seemingly moronic subjects of study that spin out of the most absurd lies, though. Perhaps we can learn how those areas of study get propped up as we observe this "Mars One" thing build up and eventually, inevitably, collapse.

hoi.polloi wrote:Most of these things seem to be jokes coming out of Hollywood culture. I don't think they'd try to pull a real life Truman Show. Their greater pride is that all us free-range sheeple are trapping ourselves by voluntarily submitting our senses to their digital feed. Even in things like Big Brother you hear all the time about how the contestants are living in a constant suspension of disbelief; how they're told to ham it up, act out ridiculous scenarios or enhance their feelings comically.

I suppose it is ultimately more practical to use a handful of professional actor-naughts than it is to orchestrate a real life red planet Truman Show. They can just plant their pre-chosen 'future Martians' into the applicant pool of the 40 lucky contestants that make the first cut, and rig the 'audience vote' for those ten.

Much as I imagine that the powers that be might like to torture a few human lab rats in a pretend Martian habitat, it is more pragmatic to have a final product with less variables. The big picture, as you rightly point out, seems to involve having the masses of free-rangers submit to a digital feed of make believe- one that they control at will.

Science Education Editor Harry Keller, clearly a believer in the possibilities of space travel, and who I would guess doesn't dispute the Apollo landings, has no problem shredding the Mars One Project to ribbons for their total lack of a technically feasible plan!

Unless and until the Mars One organizers provide clear and detailed explanations of exactly how they will deliver the ability for a colony on Mars to grow and flourish, this project is dead on arrival.

^ The arguments in the comments section are amusing. None of them have a clue that the information their arguments are based on is completely bogus. A good illustration of how these tech hoaxes keep the masses busy fussing and feuding over what is essentially nonsense.

If you have ambitions of being one of the first people on Mars, listen up: A Dutch company says it is moving along with its plan to send four lucky Earthlings to colonize the Red Planet. The catch: They won't ever come back.

The Mars One foundation announced Tuesday that it has secured lead suppliers for an unmanned mission launching in 2018, which involves a robotic lander and a communications satellite. Lockheed Martin has been contracted to study building the lander, and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. will develop a concept study for the satellite, Mars One said.

This first mission will demonstrate technology that would be involved in a permanent human settlement on Mars. If all goes well -- and that's still very much an "if" -- the first pioneers could land on Mars in 2025.

A captioned picture's text reads, "The Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One plans to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2027."[1]

Alright, then. So they've blatantly narrowed it down again to the Netherlands — the home of so-called "reality" TV. Never mind that they're promoting themselves in Washington, D.C., never mind that they've changed the date from 2025 (ah, but excuse for this later) [2] or that the so-called "debate" posed in the whole article is already a year old! [2] From that original October 2014 article, we learn that:

"We found [that] carrying food is always cheaper than growing it locally," said study lead author Sydney Do, an MIT grad student. "On Mars, you need lighting and watering systems, and for lighting, we found it requires 875 LED [light-emitting diode] systems, which fail over time. So you need to provide spare parts for that, making the initial system heavier."

Huh? Shipping food is always cheaper than growing it locally? Is that a mini PsyOp attack against local food production within the Mars nonsense?

Anyway, back to the "new" news as of a week ago, that billionaires may be required to save the so-called "non-profit" of Mars One (though the headline may almost be misread as a cathartic declaration that we're mailing the billionaires there with a one-way ticket).

Lansdorp made his remarks during an organized debate about the feasibility of the Mars One project, which pitted Lansdorp and Barry Finger, director of life-support systems at Paragon Space Development Systems Corp., a Mars One supplier, against MIT graduate students Sydney Do and Andrew Owens.

So, who is this consistent Lansdorp character and what is his superior-sounding "Paragon" corporation? Take a look yourself [3]:

www.paragonsdc.com wrote:Since 2008, Paragon has been ranked in Inc. magazine’s “Inc. 5000”, a list of America’s fastest growing companies. In 2011, the Company was ranked #36 in the engineering industry. Paragon is a hard charging company with an adventuresome spirit that was formed in 1993 by Biospherians and Space scientists and engineers who wanted to change the future by creating life support that would allow humans to expand beyond their limits. Paragon “Firsts” include:

The first commercial experiment on ISS

The first animals in space to perform complete life-cycles

The first automated heliostat for use in a public building

Paragon crafted a Vision, Mission and Touchstones in our early days that have stood the test of time. These guiding principles are often referred to in our decision making on strategic and tactical issues and therefore imbued in our culture. They have provided a foundation for Paragon – a life code.

Paragon’s value proposition is to provide its customers with a superior product based on our persistent innovation and attention to the customer’s needs.

To get more familiar with us, we invite you to take a look at our: people, products, projects and services.Our history

Paragon was conceived to combine the expertise of biology, chemistry and aerospace engineering to develop technical solutions to life support and thermal control problems related to human and biological spaceflight.

Paragon was founded by five principal partners including Grant Anderson, Taber MacCallum, Jane Poynter, Dave Bearden, and Alicia (Cesa) Pederson.

Prior to co-founding Paragon, Grant was employed at Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, CA, Taber and Jane were members of Biosphere 2, Oracle, AZ, David was at the Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA (where he is still employed) and Cesa was a manager at Lockheed Martin. Taber served as CEO of Paragon from its inception until his move to serve as Chief Technology Officer of WorldView Enterprises, Inc., a company incubated by Paragon. Jane, formerly President and Chairman of the Board of Paragon, is now Chief Executive Officer of WorldView Enterprises, Inc.

The "Biosphere" experiments are entirely bizarre stories we may as well crack open here at CF one day. But moving on ...

The organization aims to launch a Mars lander and an orbiting communications satellite in 2020, a scouting rover and second commsat (which will circle the sun instead of the Red Planet) in 2022, and six separate cargo missions in 2024. The 2024 launches will loft a second rover, two human habitats, two life-support units and a "supply unit," according to Mars One's website.

The organization has estimated that taking these steps, and then landing four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2027, will cost about $6 billion.

Of course, $6 billion is a familiarly "fragile" number (6 million Jews anyone?) but I don't like to focus on the numbers, as y'all know. The so-called skeptics doubt it's possible to do it with such a fragile number. They suggest a more powerful number will be necessary.

It cost NASA about $102 billion in today's dollars to put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon in 1969, the two grad students pointed out.

Are these numbers actually correct? Does it matter? Space.com has not wasted another effort to sell their stupid tee shirts. Right after the "cynical doubter" puppets (who seem to only be capable of talking economist fuckwit language rather than any real science) rain all over the yearning Dutch propagandists' fantasy, there is an ad for the same old products (the selling of which I suspect may be the underlying purpose of their Mars One articles, aside from the usual propaganda).

But don't bother asking economic questions at all if you really believe in the scam. Just believe.

"Mars One's goal is not to send humans to Mars in 2027 with a $6 billion budget and 14 launches," he said. "Our goal is to send humans to Mars, period."

After all, if you don't believe in industry charlatans selling widgets, you will all be punished by placing the impossible dream ever further out of your grasp. What is their only hope? Propaganda, of course!

Mars One aims to pay most of its bills by staging a global media event around the colonization project, but the organization needs investment money to pay for work during the early stages. That money has been a bit hard to come by; funding shortfalls were the main reason the manned landing has now slipped to 2027, Lansdorp said.

And how is the start of this "manned" thing meant to be accomplished with a PR/advertisement/propaganda/hype campaign?

The group is trying to raise about $15 million at the moment, which it will use to hire more staff, pay for key studies that will show how to implement the Mars One vision in detail and build a simulated Red Planet outpost on Earth, Lansdorp said.

Aha, there you have it. In order to get your Mars reality TV show, someone'll have to help the pranksters fund the construction of an artificial set! So what exactly is this invitation/lure/hype advertisement meaning to do? As the article itself points out, there are already ...

a number of billionaires are already heavily involved in space exploration.

Which makes me wonder, anyway ... what the smeg is the Mars One main industry company doing appealing to convention fans, and why aren't the numerous billionaires involved in devil-may-care privateering space travel swarming all over an effort that they could supposedly accomplish themselves without public support? And why is this pathetic Mars One model trying to gain public support at all? Is this entire "Mars mission" a crass, cosmic inflation of the left vs. right paradigm — falsely pitting "do gooder independents" against "billionaire fat cats" in a Hollywood style "open plea" to just throw the public a bone — by giving them something nobody asked for except the propagandists themselves?

Take a look at the list of supposedly populist billionaires that we are meant to hope will be persuaded by a public outcry for rich people to "save us" — because they supposedly pretend to care for populist efforts for anything other than the most greedy reasons we can guess.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos started the aerospace company Blue Origin in 2000, for example, and PayPal co-founder Elon Musk set up SpaceX two years later with the explicit aim of helping humanity colonize Mars.

And asteroid-mining company Planetary Resources, which was founded in 2012, counts billionaires Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, Ross Perot Jr. and Charles Simonyi among its investors (along with filmmaker James Cameron) [!!!], who has a net worth around $700 million).

But the above billionaires are just the tip of the iceberg: There are 1,826 billionaires around the world, according to a recent estimate by Forbes magazine.

James Cameron again, that annoying movie-making, money-raking-in bastard! Of course he's involved in this hoax, just as he's involved in the 9/11 and Titanic tall tales! This titanic money fraud is an embarrassment to our society, but still — an endless source of public entertainment and education about how our system of greedy schemers manipulates the public on a daily basis. Let us use it to arm ourselves against such fraud and willfully watch the Mars One garbage crash and burn before it has a chance of convincing anyone of its idiocy.

[2] "An analysis led by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has identified a few purported problems with the blueprint laid out by the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which aims to land four people on the Red Planet in 2025 as the vanguard of a permanent settlement." - http://www.space.com/27451-private-mars ... study.html

By the way ... Can you guess what the second most recent "update" to the "Mars One" program may be, which we might thank Space.com for? If you guessed a promotion of the latest Mars-based Hollywood production starring eager sell-out Matt Damon, you would be correct.

Hell, I guess if they're going to speculate about concepts like "outer space travel", they'd better go to the source, huh?